Natio)ial Scioitific aiu^ Educational Iiisliliilioiis. 331 



be ill a great measure gratuitous. It cannot ])e too early, even at this moment, to 

 direct the researches of science to occupations of this nature. By these means, at the 

 end of the eleven years, the epoch at which the government may expect to be free 

 of debt, the way can be prepared to begin with system, and proceed with regularity 

 in the various details of public iinj)rt)vement; a business which, if the rulers of all 

 nations did but know it, ought to l)e considered among the first of their duties, one 

 of the principal objects of their appointment. 



The .science of political economy is still in its infancy; as indeed is the whole .sci- 

 ence of government, if we regard it as founded on principles analogous to the nature 

 of man, and designed to promote his happiness. As we believe our government to 

 be founded on these principles, we cannot but perceive an immense field of improve- 

 ment opening before us; a field in which all the physical as well as the moral .sciences 

 should lend their aid and unite their operation, to place human .society on such a 

 footing in this great section of the habitable world, as to secure it against further 

 convulsions from violence and war. Mankind have a right to expect this exam])le 

 from us; we alone are in a situation to hold it \ip before them, to connnand their 

 esteem, and perhaps their imitation. Should we, by a narrowness of views, neglect 

 the opportunity of realising .so many benefits, we ought to reflect that it never can 

 occur to us again; nor can we foresee that it will return to any age or nation. We 

 .should grievously di.sappoint the expectations of all good men in other countries, we 

 should ourselves regret our error while we live; and if po.sterity did not load us with 

 the reproaches we slioi;ld merit, it would be because our conduct will have kept them 

 ignorant of the possibility of obtaining the blessings of which it had deprived them. 



It would h<i superfluous, in this Prospectus, to point out the objects merely scien- 

 tific, that will naturally engage the attention of this branch of the In.stitution. We 

 are .sen.sible that many of the .sciences, physical as well as moral, are very little 

 advanced; .some of them, in which we .seem to have made considerable progress, are 

 yet .so uncertain as to leave it doubtful whether even their fir.st principles do not 

 remain to be discovered; and in all of them, there is a great deficiency as to the mode 

 of familiarizing their results, and applying them to the u.seful arts of life, the true 

 object of all labor and research. 



What a range is open in this country for inineralogj- and botany! How many new 

 arts are to arise, and how far the old ones are to be advanced, by the pursuit of these 

 two sciencies, it is impo.ssible even to imagine. Chemistry is making a rapid and 

 useful progress, though we still di.spute about its elements. Our knowledge of 

 anatomy has laid a necessary and sure foundation for .surgery and medicine ; surgery 

 indeed is making great proficiency ; but, after three thou.sand years of recorded 

 experience, how little do we know ()f me<licine! Mechanics and hydraulics are 

 jirogressing fa.st, and wonderful an- the facilities and comforts we draw from them ; 

 but while it continues to be necessary to make use of animal force to move heavy 

 bodies in any direction by land or water, we have a right toanticipate new discoveries. 

 Could the genius of a Bacon place itself on the high ground of all the .sciences in 

 their present state of advancement, and marshal them before him in .so great a 

 couiitr}- as this, and under a government like ours, he wtmld point out their objects, 

 foretell their .successes, and move them on their march, in a manner that .should ani- 

 mate their votaries and greatly accelerate their progress. 



The mathematics, considered as a .science, may probably be su.sceptible of higher 

 ])owers than it has yet attained ; considered as the handmaid of all the sciences and 

 all the arts, it doubtless remains to be simplified. Some new processes, and perhaps 

 new modes of expressing quantities and numbers, may yet be di.scovered, to assist 

 the mind in climbing the difficult .steps that lead to an elevation so much above our 

 crude conceptions; an elevation that subjects the material universe, w'ith all its 

 abstractions of .space and time, to oiir inspection; and ojiens, for their combinations, 

 .so many useful and satisfying truths. 



